Jackson and Burke are joined by State Representative Mike Ball (R-Madison) to discuss medical marijuana, the prison special session and the lottery.

Jackson closes the show with a “parting shot” that calls out Joe Biden for lying about the lack of lies and scandals in the Obama administration.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.

1. Success has 1,000 fathers. President Donald Trump has held a special affinity for the state of Alabama since the early stages of his 2016 campaign. And the feeling has been mutual. Thirty thousand people turned out to his first rally in Mobile all the way back in August 2015. Then on Super Tuesday in March 2016, he received over 43% of the vote in the state’s Republican presidential primary. The next closest candidate was Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) with 21%. As recently as this week, polling showed that his favorability rating among Republicans in Alabama hovers around 80%.

Trump maintains a lofty perch in the state. There’s no doubt about that. What’s a little more unclear is who is responsible for getting him there. Alabama political observers have for some time marveled at the perpetual jockeying to stay at the front of the line of people representing Trump’s interests in the state.

Four stand out to us as being those most readily acknowledged as having a claim to the Trump throne in Alabama. All four evidently have, or had, the title “chairman” attached to their names in some form.

Two held visible roles from the beginning. State Rep. Jim Carns (R-Mountain Brook) and former State. Rep. Ed Henry. Both participated in the original Trump rally in Mobile and evidence would indicate that Carns carried the title “campaign chairman” while Henry carried the title “campaign co-chairman.” Considerable talk arose after Trump’s win that Carns could even fill an ambassadorship in Central America.

A third, Chess Bedsole, seemed to have held a hybrid role. Bedsole was both a paid political consultant for the Trump campaign and in leadership as “Trump’s Alabama campaign Chairman.”

Finally, former State Rep. Perry O. Hooper, Jr. is the man who — by at least one account — has risen to the top of the Trump leadership ladder in Alabama. For a time, Hooper shared the campaign chairman title with his peers. Perhaps  as a nod to his elevated status, however, Hooper somewhere along the line received the unique title “Trump 2016 Alabama Victory Chair.”

Hooper’s social media accounts document him becoming a fixture at the White House. According to his own account, he has been in the middle of West Wing meetings on fighter jets and trade and the Easter Egg Roll.

2. Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him. While Hooper has asserted himself as the unofficial Trump contact in the state, it has not happened without risk. It is fairly common in politics for someone to claim a significant piece of political real estate and then be the object of derision from others who aspire to occupy the same space. The key for someone in that potentially vulnerable position is to be ready and aware.

Opposition to Hooper’s role in Trump world came to a boiling point a few weeks ago following an NBC News article in which Hooper said he spoke to Trump about Alabama’s U.S. Senate race. The article quoted Hooper as saying that there was a “plan” in place for Trump to endorse former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in the Republican primary.

Yellowhammer News had picked up some rumblings earlier in the year that a certain amount of consternation existed regarding Hooper’s service as an unofficial spokesman for Trump in the state. Sources with knowledge of the situation told us that a conference call on the subject took place among Republican National Committee (RNC) officials, and on that conference call the phrase “restraining order” was used, at one point.

While those in Washington, D.C. continued to monitor, Hooper’s use of the national media to convey Trump’s purported thoughts on Alabama’s senate race may have sent some over the edge. One RNC official told us Hooper’s outspokenness on Trump’s views went from harmless to meddling to dangerous in light of the NBC News article. We were told that RNC Trump Victory Political Director Chris Carr spoke with Hooper to clarify some of the boundaries of his involvement in Trump world. We were also told that Carr directed Hooper to refrain from issuing statements to the press, holding press conferences and otherwise representing the thoughts and views of Trump.

Hooper told Yellowhammer News that the Trump comments he conveyed to NBC News occurred during a meeting he had with the president on tariffs. He said the president asked him about Tuberville and the state of the race, in general, and he simply offered his assessment. Hooper said he considers both Tuberville and Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) friends.

Whether any of this amounts to anything — or deters Hooper in any fashion — remains to be seen. Merely five days ago, Hooper posted a photo of himself attending a Chicago Cubs baseball game with Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

3. What are the odds? Scott Cooley of SportsBetting.ag has provided Yellowhammer News with some prop bets surrounding a number of current political storylines.

Bettors can wager on the blockage of a potential Mexico tariff, the possibility of a presidential impeachment, whether or not President Trump will attend a World Cup match and whether he will have to hand over his tax records.

The oddsmakers don’t anticipate an impeachment or Trump’s tax records to be made public, but the numbers do suggest Congress would block a tariff on Mexico.

Will the House of Representatives pass Articles of Impeachment against President Trump before end of his first term?

Yes 2/1 (+200)
No 2/5 (-250)
–Note: The odds imply a 71.43% probability articles will not be passed

Will the Democratic Party gain access to President Trump’s federal tax returns before the end of his first term?

Yes 3/2 (+150)
No 1/2 (-200)
–Note: The odds imply a 66.67% probability returns will not be accessed

Will Congress successfully block President Trump from imposing tariffs on imported Mexican goods? (disapproval vote must take place for action)

Yes 1/2 (-200)
No 3/2 (+150)
–Note: The odds imply a 66.67% probability a tariff would be blocked

Will President Trump attend a World Cup match?

Yes 20/1 (+2000)
No 1/100 (-10000)
–Note: The odds imply a 99.01% probability Trump will not attend

• This week, Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that requires sex offenders with victims younger than 13 to undergo chemical castration to be eligible for parole, but the sponsor of the bill originally wanted something a little different.
• State Representative Steve Hurst (R-Munford) has said that he would prefer if it was surgical castration and death for some offenders. Overall, Hurst has said that he wanted to implement something that’s effective, but it’ll be a work in progress to keep situations of child molestation from happening.

5. Taxpayer money is being spent on abortion

• Representative Martha Roby (R-Dothan) introduced a pro-life amendment to keep taxpayer funding from being used to fund abortions in Washington, D.C. during a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee that would apply to the Fiscal Year 2020 funding bill.
• The amendment, known as the Dornan Amendment, has been in place since 1979, but over the years, members of Congress have found ways to nullify the amendment by deeming taxes and fines collected in Washington, D.C. as local rather than federal, which allows that revenue to be used to fund abortions.

4. Birmingham pastors tell Planned Parenthood to stay out

• An interdenominational group of Birmingham-area pastors held a press conference on Thursday at the future site of a new Planned Parenthood clinic and said that “all lives matter,” telling the abortion provider not to come to the Magic City.
• Black pastors were prominently featured at the event and a press release highlighted that 60% of abortions that happen in Alabama are black, while the population is only one-quarter black. Pastor Zanithia Turner said, “If all lives matter, why not the All? We stand as one voice to break the silence and defeat the lie that we don’t care about our children, communities and families. Planned Parenthood, we will no longer accept your lies. We Matter!”

3. Only good guys obey gun-free zones

• After a city employee, DeWayne Craddock, killed 12 of his coworkers and injured four others, a lawyer for one of the victim’s family has said that there was concern about the employee and she considered taking a firearm to work but didn’t because the building was a gun-free zone.
• Kate Nixon, had discussed the man with her husband and she reportedly was debating  “whether or not she should take a pistol and hide it in her handbag.” She decided not to because she would have been fired if she was caught with the firearm.

2. Morgan County’s use of gun-free zones is drawing fire

• The Morgan County Commission has questionably declared 13 different buildings, including senior centers, “courthouse annexes,” banning firearms from the facilities.
• The idea that all 13 of the facilities will be used to supplement the courthouse is an insult to every citizen of Morgan County and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall should immediately rectify this situation.

1. Tell the FBI

• President Donald Trump has released his response to the criticism he received after stating during an interview with ABC News that if a foreign power offered opposition research on one of his 2020 opponents, he would want to hear it because there’s nothing wrong with listening. The head of the Federal Elections Commission and a large number of congressmen disagree.
• Trump has responded, saying that he meets with foreign powers all the time, and gave examples of how recently he met with the Queen of England and questioned if he should have to call the FBI about every foreign call and meeting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took this opportunity to lash out at the president again, but the media and their Democrats are refusing to acknowledge what Hillary Clinton did in 2016.

“He’s worked with the state of Alabama, he’s worked with municipalities all of the state of Alabama, and he’s served in the Unites States Congress for several years now,” he added. “Bradley Byrne would make an excellent United States Senator and have Alabama values, Alabama quality of life and work for job and economic development.”

Watch:

Bradford’s endorsement came after Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller endorsed Byrne last week.

Tracie West, Alabama State Board of Education member for District 2, also endorsed Byrne this week. She is the former president of Auburn City Schools.

“I’m supporting Bradley Byrne for U.S. Senate because Bradley supports education and he knows that’s what moves Alabama forward.” – Tracie West, State School Board member from Auburn

Thank you for the kind words and support Tracie! #TeamByrne #ALSen pic.twitter.com/MdVBYmjjSy

— Bradley Byrne (@BradleyByrne) June 13, 2019

An early primary poll first reported on Wednesday by Yellowhammer News showed former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville leading the field (including potential candidates Roy Moore and John Merrill) in all media markets except Mobile, as Byrne represents southwest Alabama in Congress and enjoys high name identification and favorability there.

Byrne’s campaign team could very well be trying to show that his support is growing outside of his congressional district by rolling out endorsements like Fuller’s, West’s and now Bradford’s.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

• Democrats have been ramping up impeachment since the Mueller report didn’t produce the obstruction and collusion charges they were hoping for, but U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Saks) has said that if Democrats move forward with impeachment proceedings, it’ll be the “death” of the Democratic majority in the House.
• Rogers explained that while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) knows there’s nothing there on impeachment, even if they do pass articles of impeachment, the Senate won’t take them up. He added that even in the event that they did, they wouldn’t get the three-fifths vote needed to impeach.

5. Democrats have got it good

• Former Vice President Joe Biden took to the podium yesterday to unleash another series of untrue statements; the most interesting one was, “For eight years, there wasn’t one single hint of a scandal or a lie.” this ignores the Fast and the Furious gun-running, IRS targeting conservative groups, the Benghazi attack/coverup and more.
• Additionally, the American media and their Democrats have decided that sending illegal immigrants to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, is the same as sending the Japanese to internment camps and many have made that comparison, this ignores that former President Barack Obama actually sent illegal aliens there in 2014 as well, and none of them made this idiotic comparison.

4. Bernie honeymooned in the Soviet Union

• On Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) delivered an address where he heavily defended Democratic socialism and said that “income and wealth inequality today in the United States is greater than any time since the 1920s.” Then he used the address to unveil his “economic bill of rights.”
• Sanders stated that he wants to finish what Franklin D. Roosevelt started 75 years ago with the economic bill of rights, as well as saying that the current economy puts people in the middle class at a large disadvantage and highly benefits those in the top percent.

3. Jones wants to force the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Accord

• U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) has signed on to support the International Climate Accountability Act, which would force President Trump’s administration to fall in line with the Paris Agreement, which Trump abandoned in 2017 due to losses in energy production, job loss and economic disadvantages.
• The International Climate Accountability Act would prevent Trump from using funds to officially withdraw from the Paris Agreement and was introduced by Senator Rob Wyden (D-OR) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who were both also involved with introducing the Green New Deal.

2. Points for honesty?

• On the same day his son is speaking to a Senate Committee about a meeting with Russians at Trump Tower, the president of the United States told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he would not contact the authorities if a foreign government offered his campaign dirt on a political opponent.
• Trump’s potential opponents love this answer, even if it is hypocritical, because while he eventually said, “I’d go maybe to the FBI — if I thought there was something wrong,” he also defended taking the information, saying, “It’s not an interference, they have information — I think I’d take it.”

1. Tuberville up in recent polling

• It may be way too early for these polls, but campaigns (and perspective campaigns) are doing them to gauge where they stand 509 days from the 2020 general election. Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville is leading the field with 23% of the vote in the newest poll.
• Tuberville is hardly blowing away the field. Roy Moore isn’t in the race yet, but he is polling at 18% and has one more point that Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope). Secretary of State John Merrill is polling at 7%, while “Other” is at 6%.

Tuberville is leading with 23% of voters choosing him, followed by Moore at 18%, Byrne at 16%, Merrill at 7%, “Other” at 6% and Mooney at 2%, with 28% undecided.

The former football coach led in all media markets except Mobile, the area Byrne represents in Congress.

The poll went deeper than that, measuring those candidates’ and potential candidates’ name identification and favorability, along with at least one biography test on Tuberville and the popularity of President Donald Trump.

The survey showed 80% of respondents having a favorable opinion of Trump, with 18% responding unfavorably.

Tuberville had a 49%-17% favorable-unfavorable rating, compared to Byrne at 35%-16%, Moore at 38%-48%, Merrill at 28%-13% and Mooney at 12%-13%.

Tuberville performed best both among respondents who identified as “very conservative” and as Trump supporters, two demographics key in the 2020 Republican primary.

Moore has a “very favorable” rating of 17%, while his 32% “very unfavorable” mark shows the deeply rooted opposition to his candidacy even within the GOP grassroots.

Only 1% of respondents never heard of Moore, while the rest of the candidates have significant room to grow in name identification and strengthening soft favorability and unfavorability.

One question showed that 65% of respondents preferred an “outsider like President Trump who has never been a politician.” 17% percent preferred a “career politician who has spent the last two decades in office.”

The eventual Republican nominee will go on to likely face Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) in the general election.

President Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr. and other allies of the president have warned that a possible Moore-Jones rematch could once again hand this ruby-red seat to the Democrats in 2020.

This polling should give observers some sense of relief that if the other GOP candidates do not tear themselves apart during the primary, Moore’s built-in unfavorable numbers give him a huge hill to climb out of the gates in seeking the nomination.

You can read a memo from Iverson on the poll here.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

President Donald Trump will rant about the “rigged polls,” until he finds one he can brag about.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and former Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D-TX) will dismiss their current polling predicament as well.

Cynical readers and angry social media commentators will talk about how the polls in 2016 were wrong, however, they largely weren’t.

But the politicians will continue spending money to hire polling firms and people to help analyze that polling, knowing that the science of polling isn’t perfect but it is still valuable.

You will continue clicking the links about polling being done with 510 days until the general election.

The media will tell us about potential matchups between Trump and all 2,950 Democratic candidates for president.

They do that, even though this exists:

Compare to the Quinnipiac 2015 poll from about the same point
Clinton 46%, Paul 42%
Clinton 45%, Rubio 41%
Clinton 46%, Christie 37%
Clinton 47%, Huckabee 40%
Clinton 47%, Bush 37%
Clinton 46%, Walker 38%
Clinton 48%, Cruz 37%
Clinton 50%, Trump 32%@Morning_Joe @JoeNBC

— RickyDessen (@RickyD208) June 12, 2019

This far out, polling operates as a snapshot in time. There are numerous ways to look at how much or little these polls can actually matter.

Jeb Bush, Donald Trump top GOP field in CNN/ORC national poll; both trail Clinton. http://t.co/y0SPGHw0LT pic.twitter.com/JA4qYDmATD

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 1, 2015

That’s great.

Some polling results were leaked to Yellowhammer News about Alabama’s 2020 GOP primary for United State Senate done by a “top-notch DC pollster.”

Be on the lookout for this poll on YellowhammerNews.com.

This won’t be the last poll, but it does set the stage nicely for this Senate primary.

I love polls. If you have one, send it to me.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.

• Governor Kay Ivey has signed a bill into law that would create a medical marijuana study commission which will make recommendations for the Alabama legislators beginning next year. She also extended Carly’s Law to allow access to CBD oil.
• This bill is merely a compromise to the original, which would’ve legalized medical marijuana for some patients. It couldn’t pass the House of Representatives, but the goal is to revisit that in the future.

5. Barr, McGahn in “contempt”

• House Democrats voted and passed a civil enforcement resolution on Tuesday. The move is being made to make the far-left happy. Democrats say that this resolution effectively holds former White House counsel Don McGahn and Attorney General William Barr in contempt.
• While the resolution doesn’t specifically say “contempt,” it does provide similar power and Democrats are hoping that it will support their legal case to get documents from the Mueller report. The DOJ is pushing back and a senior DOJ official called the terminology a “Democrat talking point.”

4. Pro-life views are unacceptable in the Democratic Party

• Presidential candidate for 2020 Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) has declared that pro-life opinions are “not acceptable” and compared them to the views held by bigots, arguing, “Imagine saying that it’s okay to appoint a judge who’s racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic.” Gillibrand has all kinds of interesting hot takes.
• Declaring the debate over on abortion is an interesting tactic, especially because she followed that up with an embarrassing interpretation of the premise of “the separation of church and state,” adding she “respect[s] the rights of every American to hold their religious beliefs true to themselves, but our country and our Constitution has always demanded that we have a separation of church and state.”

3. Asylum seekers don’t show up for court

• On Tuesday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan revealed just how few asylum seekers show up for their hearings after crossing the southern border.
• McAleenan said it does depend on the demographic, but out of the 7,000 cases involved in the recently conducted DHS pilot program with family units, 90% didn’t show up for their hearings and they are prevented from getting effective immigration enforcement results since family units can’t be held longer than 21 days and they don’t receive a court ruling for years.

2. Doug Jones would like liberals to stop helping him

• The spokesperson for progressive group Democracy for America, Neil Sroka, spoke very highly of U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) on Tuesday to the Huffington Post, saying, “On issues from choice to Trump’s racist border wall, he’s had more guts and shown a greater commitment to justice than Joe Manchin.”
• The Senate Leadership Fund was quick to issue a response to Sroka’s comments, saying that they are “in total agreement” and continued on to state that they wish to further highlight Jones’ far-left views to his Alabama constituents.

1. Trump and Biden have a slap-fight in Iowa

• In what could be a preview of where America is heading in 2020, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden held a series of events where they took each other to task for their failures and personality flaws to the glee of cable news and talk radio hosts everywhere.
• President Trump called Biden “weak mentally” and slammed his latest flip-flops while Biden called the president of the United States an “existential threat” and incorrectly stated he called white supremacists “very fine people.”

• Before Governor Kay Ivey commits funding to restore the Amtrak train service that would travel between Mobile and New Orleans, she wants to see more information on the project including what impact it could have on the Port of Mobile.
• Even though Amtrak constantly loses money and this project will never be profitable, the project has already received a $33 million federal grant for needed improvements. Mississippi has committed $15 million, but overall it’s projected to cost $66 million, and Ivey said, “My administration will be working closely with the city, county, port authority and other entities to make certain that this is truly a win for the people of Alabama.”

5. Everything is Watergate

• On Monday, the former White House counsel to Richard Nixon, John Dean, testified, “In many ways the Mueller report is to President Trump what the so-called Watergate road map…was to President Richard Nixon.”
• There was heavy debate over Dean’s credibility, and some GOP members accused the Democrats of attempting to use Dean to attack the president. Attention was also drawn to the fact that Dean pled guilty to obstruction of justice 45 years ago, as well as his comments that Michael Cohen should stay away from testifying in front of Republicans.

4. Chemical castration is now law

• Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill into law on Monday afternoon that will require sex offenders with victims younger than 13 be subjected to chemical castration, which will be a condition of their parole.
• Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) has said that the law will only apply to a small number of offenders since most of the sexual offenders of children won’t be eligible for parole, but he believes that the treatment will work for those who receive it.

3. Probe into 2016 widening

• The Justice Department revealed on Monday that they are adding the activities of several non-government organizations and individuals to the list of those being investigated in a broad review into misconduct by U.S. intelligence agencies during the 2016 presidential campaign.
• The probe is also looking into the involvement of foreign intelligence services, which could mean that the Department of Justice is investigating work done during the presidential campaign by Fusion GPS, a firm retained by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign to conduct opposition research.

2. John Rogers wants to face off with Doug Jones

• State Representative John Rogers (D-Birmingham) has previously mentioned that he wants to get in the race against U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook), and while Rogers attended the Alabama Democratic Conference’s meeting, he said that he intends to file with the Federal Election Commission.
• Rogers has also said that he wants to reach a certain level of campaign contribution commitments before he makes an official announcement and files with the FEC, mentioning that Jones’ “war chest” of campaign donations is the obstacle to his victory.

1. Culverhouse is doubling down on his lying

• On Sunday, emails were released that clearly debunked the claims that donation money was returned to Hugh Culverhouse, Jr. due to his comments in support of abortion, but what the emails actually showed is that Culverhouse was attempting to use his position to influence decisions on admissions, scholarships and faculty employment.
• Despite this, Culverhouse is claiming that the emails prove that the University of Alabama returned the donation due to his comments, but after Culverhouse began his public abortion spectacle, he did email a System attorney asking that the emails and documents not be released publicly.

Yet, as in all special elections, turnout will determine who leads the only poll that matters at the end of Election Day. The primary has been pretty tame thus far, but things heated up a little bit on the last day of campaigning when Meadows’ campaign posted on Facebook that she had been endorsed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) Political Victory Fund (PVF), despite the fact that the NRA has not endorsed anyone in the race.

Meadows quickly took the post down and replaced it with a new message that reflects the reality of her having received an “AQ” grade, which is the highest possible for a non-incumbent. The “Q” stands for the NRA questionnaire that these non-incumbent grades are based off of.

Sparkman has also received an “AQ” grade. Grant and King both received a “F” grade. Heifner and Fritz both received a “?” grade.

The NRA-PVF describes a “F” grade holder as: “True enemy of gun owners’ rights. A consistent anti-gun candidate who always opposes gun owners’ rights and/or actively leads anti-gun legislative efforts, or sponsors anti-gun legislation.”

The “?” grade is explained as: “Refused to answer the NRA-PVF candidate questionnaire or a candidate who has made contradictory statements or taken positions that are inconsistent with the candidate’s answers to the NRA-PVF candidate questionnaire or previous record. A rating of ‘?’ often indicates indifference, if not outright hostility, to gun owners’ and sportsmen’s rights.”

Monday’s Facebook incident came after Meadows’ campaign recently sent out a mailer that says she is the “only candidate ever endorsed by NRA” in the race. This is alluding to her 2014 primary runoff endorsement by the NRA when she was running against Polizos.

In a statement to Yellowhammer News, Sparkman said, “It’s an honor to receive the highest rating possible by the NRA-PVF. I’m also thankful for a 100% Pro-Gun rating from the National Association for Gun Rights.”

He added, “Once elected, I will continue to fight for the rights of gun owners and will always protect the second amendment.”

Meadows is endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federation and the Alabama Forestry Association in the race.

HD 74 residents can find their polling place here.

Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

A Republican primary runoff, if necessary, will be held on the same date as Montgomery’s mayoral election – Tuesday, August 27 – and the general election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 12.

If a Republican candidate in Tuesday’s primary gets over 50% and a runoff is not necessary, the general election will be August 27.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn

• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at Wellesley College and shared that she believes if you read the entire Mueller report, you can’t come to any conclusion other than obstruction of justice occurred and that Russia conducted a large attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
• Clinton, an expert on obstruction who deleted emails and smashed cell phones, has consistently claimed that Russian interference was the cause of her 2016 loss, so it’s no surprise that she stands with many of her fellow Democrats claiming that there was obstruction, despite the fact that FBI special counsel Robert Mueller declined to prosecute anyone for obstructing with President Donald Trump.

5. Kamala Harris loves talking about abortion

• U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) made her trip to Alabama about abortion “rights,” referencing those “rights” many times. She said that “going to go back to a situation where women may die –and that’s not an extreme point – where women may die because they don’t have access to the choices that they deserve to be able to make for themselves.”
• Harris made also said under her administration she would have the Department of Justice review any state that passes a law that would limit reproductive healthcare access (abortion) “if it’s coming from a state that has a history of limiting those rights,” adding she would also require that the laws pass DOJ review before going into effect. This would require a pretty significant change in the country’s law, which seems unlikely.

4. Tuberville is going hard on immigration

• In an address to the Tennessee Valley Republican Club, U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville took a strong stance against illegal immigration, saying, “We are losing the battle daily. We’re just steadily getting chipped away, and we got to stop it. If we don’t, we’re losing.”
• Tuberville went on to explain how he thinks the border issue could lead to the end of the country and he believes that there are more Middle Easterners coming across the border than Mexicans to take over. The former Auburn football coach hopes that we “wake up” before something happens.

3. Hugh Culverhouse, Jr. lied as the media aided and abetted him

• After the University of Alabama returned the donations made by Hugh Culverhouse, Jr., there was immediate speculation that it was due to the issue of abortion and supporting the ban in Alabama. Culverhouse, the Washington Post and the national media fanned those flames.
• However, Culverhouse was, and still is, lying. The University of Alabama System came out and said, “Our decision was never about the issue of abortion. It was always about ending the continued outside interference by the donor in the operations of The University of Alabama School of Law.”

2. New poll oddly indicates Alabama may not be that passionate on abortion

• After the Alabama legislature passed the Human Life Protection Act, the mainstream media took it upon themselves to “expose” Alabama as a radical pro-life state that didn’t represent their pro-choice voters.
• A new survey was conducted by JMC Analytics and Polling that showed Alabama doesn’t exactly hold abortion as a hot-button issue, with 48% of participants saying they were undecided, 14% holding a completely pro-life position and 10% saying they were completely pro-choice. But in 2018, an amendment declaring Alabama as a pro-life state passed with a 59-41 margin.

1. Trump makes deal with Mexico and the media and their Democrats can’t handle it

• Days before a 5% tariff was to be imposed on Mexico, the two nations agreed to a deal that will allow Mexico to send 6,000 Mexican National Guard soldiers to their southern border and have Mexico keep/return asylum seekers in Mexico until their claims are adjudicated.
• Somehow, the prevailing media narrative has become that this deal was already agreed to and all of this was unnecessary. This comes from the same people that insisted none of these issues would ever be agreed to at all.

Jackson and Burke are joined by Speaker of the Alabama State House Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) to talk about the legislative session.

Jackson closes the show with a “parting shot” calling for Governor Kay Ivey to sign the bill that calls for the castration of sex predators.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.

• President Trump has signed the $19.1 billion disaster bill that stalled for months in Congress due to demands for aid to Puerto Rico and border wall funding, with money for Puerto Rico but not the border.
• States including Florida, Georgia and Alabama will benefit from the bill, and President Donald Trump has strangely tweeted that Puerto Rico “should love President Trump. Without me, they would have been shut out!”

5. Phony Joe Biden

• Former Vice President and Democrat presidential primary frontrunner Joe Biden has made a series of flip-flops on abortion, landing at the enviable far-left but the generally unpopular position that the government should fund abortions.
• From 1976 until last month, Biden supported the Hyde Amendment. For the last month, he opposed it. On June 5 and 6 he claimed he supported it and “misheard” the question that caused the change; on Thursday night, he announced he opposed it again.

4. Teen asleep at the wheel the cause of the Brambletts’ death

• More details have finally been released concerning the vehicle accident that killed Voice of the Auburn Tigers Rod Bramblett and his wife Paula on May 25 at a stoplight in Auburn.
• The teen driver has now told authorities that they fell asleep in their car, causing the wreck. Police had previously ruled out phones or alcohol as contributing factors to the wreck.

3. Kamala Harris to bring her Alabama hate to Alabama

• On Saturday, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) will speak at the Alabama Democratic Conference’s event after holding events to “focus on engaging women and African-Americans in Birmingham and Montgomery,” whatever that means.
• Harris has recently baselessly criticized Alabama’s abortion law, and claimed it’s citizens don’t care about babies after they are born even though Alabama has seen record adoption numbers, so she should fit in with Alabama’s Democrats.

2. Democrat leaders are battling over impeachment

• While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is declaring that she would prefer to see the president of the United States in jail for something, Democrat leaders like House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) are still trying to start impeachment in his committee to centralize the investigation.
• Nadler isn’t only fighting Speaker Pelosi on this matter, but other “resistance” heroes like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) are also wary of heading down the impeachment path and would rather do investigations until the next election.

1. No deal with Mexico

• The White House has announced that tariffs proposed by the president will go into effect on Monday, unless the Mexican government provides more assurances that they will stop allow free passage for future illegal immigrants through Mexico.
• Vice President Mike Pence met with representatives before heading to Europe and stated that there has been some progress but not enough. Mexico has already offered to send 6,000 of their troops to their southern border and freezing the assets of human traffickers as part of a deal to avoid the tariffs but the United States is still moving forward with tariff plans.

• After Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) criticized the Alabama abortion ban, Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) said that Harris is just another example of an “out-of-state liberal elitists” lecturing everyone in the state.
• Byrne has also stated how proud he is of Alabama for being one of the states to lead the fight in protecting unborn babies, as well as saying that Alabama doesn’t need liberal politicians trying to tell us how to run the state, which Harris will do when she speaks to Democrats in Alabama on Friday.

5. “Sorry, not sorry”

• Mayor Mark Chambers of Carbon Hill posted on his Facebook page, “I would like to make a public apology to my community. I and I alone am responsible for the comment that was made. It is not a reflection of the Carbon Hill Council or and city personnel or citizens.”
• Not surprisingly, Chambers has said that he has no plans to resign as mayor, and he still fully believes that his comments were taken out of context and weren’t meant to target the LGBTQ community, but Chamber’s initial defense was that the comments were supposed to be private rather than public, so he appears to be lying.

4. Ivey won’t castrate the debate

• Governor Kay Ivey has a bill on her desk that would require sex offenders whose victims are younger than 13 to undergo chemical castration when paroled, but Ivey is still reviewing the bill.
• While the media tries to make this another, “Oh, look at Alabama” story, other states such as California and Florida have similar chemical castration laws that they passed in the 1990s.

3. The situation at the border is getting worse

• Arrests made at the border skyrocketed throughout May; now, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are declaring the situation a full-blown emergency with CBP made almost 133,000 arrests, which is double the recorded number from the beginning of the year and up 30% from last month’s arrests.
• Democrats responded to this information by trying to pass an amnesty bill and pretending that will address this issue somehow.

2. Tariffs will hit Alabama

• President Donald Trump’s tariffs are a bluff or a gamble, but they will impact Alabama in the form of gas and oil imported from Mexico, which has grown to $1.5 billion. The second largest is the $1.4 billion of transport equipment, which would include auto parts for Alabama’s automotive industry.
• But it may not happen at all with the Trump administration meeting with Mexico and some Republicans declaring they aren’t for these tariffs. There is no sign that they will overrule Trump.

1. Doug Jones is wrong on everything

• While ignoring the fact that he’s been weakly against the Trump tax cuts, Senator Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) during an interview with CNN discussed how against the tariffs on Mexico he is, saying, “Well, because they’re a tax. This could be the largest tax increase that Americans have seen in two or three generations.”
• In the same interview, he signaled he knows his political career is all but dead. Jones basically said he’s open to impeachment by suggesting that we need to “see where that goes” on the issuing of subpoenas and that Congress needs to do their constitutional duty of oversight.

• The black owner of a Dunkin Donuts store in Montgomery, Damon Dunn, filed a complaint with the Alabama Ethics Commission, accusing an investigator of abusing their power over 75-cent charges for coffee flavoring servings.
• The complaint came after investigator Bryon Butler filed a discrimination complaint against the store, claiming that they were charging black customers more for coffee flavoring. Butler later threatened to make problems for the black-owned business and had an employee give a recorded statement that contained personal information by implying this was an official investigation.

5. Biden stumbles again

• Former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden is slipping in the polls and after receiving criticism from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) about his position on environmental issues. Biden has unveiled his version of a “Green New Deal.”
• Biden’s plan, which isn’t actually his and is another Biden tax increase, would cost $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years; the goal of the plan would be for the Unoted States to achieve a 100% clean energy economy with net-zero emissions for no later than 2050. It has drawn attacks from progressives for lacking details.

4. Coward from Broward

• Scott Peterson, the former Broward County, Florida sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer who stood outside of Stoneman Douglas High School while 17 souls were taken by a school shooter, now faces 11 charges related to his failure to fulfill his duties. The charges could carry a sentence of close to 100 years if convicted.
• The Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not mince words. They found the “investigation shows former deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing” to stop the slaughter and there is “no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives.”

3. Slow motion impeachment

• It’s all about impeachment as the House of Representatives has announced that it will vote next week on holding former White House counsel Don McGahn and Attorney General William Barr in contempt. Barr is being held in contempt for not revealing grand jury testimony when he can’t.
• Some House Democrats also want special counsel Robert Mueller to testify as well. And if he won’t come, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) wants to compel Mueller to testify about the Russia investigation. Hoyer stated, “He may want a subpoena for all I know.”

2. Alabama needed to be in the national news again

• Mayor Mark Chambers of Carbon Hill recently posted on Facebook about “homosexuals,” “transvestites,” “baby killers” and “socialists.” He wrote,  “The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know that’s bad to say but without killing them out there’s no way to fix it”
• The predictable and correct backlash is coming from from the public and the media. Chambers has even tried to argue his way out of criticism, claiming that his comment about “kill the problem out” was speaking specifically about in a revolution and if that comes then “these people will be killed out.”

1. Will the court find Hubbard’s appeal appealing?

• The Alabama Supreme Court heard oral arguments in relation to former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s appeal on ethics charges. His attorney’s argued he broke no laws and the law he passed was too vague.
• AL.com reports indicate that judges were asking questions that may favor Hubbard’s argument, even asking how Alabama citizens would know they were subject to the ethics law.

• Specifically, Huntsville is booming and has been named the fourth best city in the nation for career opportunities, according to SmartAsset.com, with Provo, Utah, coming in first.
• The rankings, where Alabama has climbed one notch, take into account many factors, including unemployment rates, median income, annual housing costs and change in total employment.

5. It seems becoming American isn’t that hard

• The number of people who have taken the oath of citizenship is at a five-year high according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, despite the system being criticized by the Democrats.
• Almost 850,000 naturalization forms were processed in 2018, and 757,000 people were sworn in as new citizens, which was a 6% increase from 2017. This deals a severe blow to the premise that becoming an American is too hard or that we are an unwelcoming nation.
  

4. Build The wall

• Judge Trevor McFadden has thrown out the House Democrats’ lawsuit against President Trump using emergency funds for the border wall.
• President Trump’s motion was to move $6.7 billion toward the border wall construction, and McFadden emphasized that courts typically stay out of issues that are considered “political question doctrine,” since they are matters best left to voters.

3. Illegal immigrant caught bringing cocaine to Alabama

• The drug bust may have taken place in North Carolina, but the drug in transit was $400,000 worth of cocaine. Eyian Valenti Robotham is now being held on a $750,000 bond. The Department of Homeland Security has obtained an immigration detainer on Robotham.
• Robotham has been charged with felony trafficking a schedule II narcotic by possession, felony trafficking a schedule II narcotic by transportation and felony maintaining a vehicle for controlled substances. His nation of origin was not reported.

2. Kamala Harris not a fan of Alabama’s pro-life stance

• Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) spoke about the Alabama abortion ban, saying, “Those folks down in Alabama who are doing this, these are the same folks who, by the time that baby is born, they couldn’t care less.”
• Of course, what Harris was ignoring was the fact that in 2018 Alabama set a new record for how many children were adopted out of the state foster care system, and instead focused on saying that Alabama is trying to tell women what to do with their bodies and pretending that if you are against the state providing every aspect of someone’s life (food, housing, health care) you just don’t care.

1. Maybe impeachment is already here

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spent the weekend having Californians chanting at her about impeachment while she continues to caution against the unpopular move against President Trump, but Representative Jim Clyburn (D-SC) has now said that he thinks they’ve already begun.
• Clyburn said, “I think we’ve already begun. We’ve got all of these committees doing their work, we’re having hearings.” He is arguing that if they do more investigations a groundswell of impeachment support will appear and the Republican Senate will be forced to act, which is never happening.

• U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was assaulted by a former political rival who tossed a drink at him after a town hall. She was arrested for copying a trend that is occurring in Europe called “milkshaking.”
• U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), a 2020 presidential candidate, was interrupted during a MoveOn.org event by a man who took her microphone. Security was slow to respond, but moderator Karine Jean-Pierre attempted to get between the senator and the animal rights protestor.

5. Trump keeps pressuring Mexico

• President Donald Trump has already warned Mexico that if they don’t do more to stop the invasion at the southern border, he will impose more tariffs on Mexican goods, forcing companies in Mexico to move their businesses back to the United States.
• Sunday, Trump doubled down and tweeted about his promise to possibly hit Mexico with 25% tariffs, saying, “The problem is that Mexico is an ‘abuser’ of the United States, taking but never giving…America has had enough!”

4. Trump will keep voter turnout up

• Alabama GOP Chair Terry Lathan is predicting that President Trump will definitely be the party’s nominee in the primary election, but he’ll also keep voter turnout up.
• On Friday, Lathan said, “Now if you’re asking me specifically about Trump on a primary ballot, and of course he is going to be the nominee of the party, there’s something about people liking to go pick up a pen and that ballot and circle ‘Donald Trump.’ They love him in our state. If the president says, ‘Everyone go vote, everyone go vote in the primary, regardless,’ he’s also probably messaging, ‘Hey I need help in the Senate, I need help in the U.S. House. All my folks go vote. Get in the primary. Get us some good candidates. We’ll see you in November.”

3. Let the people vote on the lottery

• After the end of the legislative session last week, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) said that while he thought the session was one of the best he’s ever seen, he wished he could’ve gotten voters the opportunity to vote on the lottery bill.
• The lottery bill did pass the Senate, but the bill failed in the House. Marsh said he believes if the bill had passed it would’ve eased some of the pressure on the General Fund in the future.

2. Byrne says he regrets calling for Trump to quit 2016 race

• In 2016, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) called for then-candidate Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race after a video of Trump making comments about what women would let him do to them. The video led Byrne, and many others, to assume he couldn’t win the race.
• Byrne has voted with Trump 97% of the time over his career, but this could still play a role in Alabama’s 2020 U.S. Senate primary.

1. Media and their Democrats keep pushing for impeachment

• House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) said during CNN’s “State of the Union,” “We aren’t particularly interested in the Senate. We do believe that if we sufficiently, effectively educate the public, then we will have done our jobs, and we can move on an impeachment vote and it will stand, and maybe it will be what needs to be done to incent the Senate to act.”
• A CNN poll showed that impeachment approval had grown some, however, 54% of those who participated in the poll are against impeachment. Support in Congress is far less than that but, with Russian collusion busted, this is the media’s story for the foreseeable future.

Last week, NASA published a column entitled From Alabama to the Moon. The article outlined with great detail the essential role our state will have fulfilled when the boots of American astronauts settle into lunar soil, once again. The work and accomplishments which have occurred from within the state of Alabama are the reason the nation dare dream of returning itself to its place of superiority in space.

And, in this new era of human spaceflight, no one is more responsible for positioning Alabama as the hub for aerospace advancement than Senator Richard Shelby.

Senator Shelby has served as a tireless champion for the people, organizations and projects which now permit America to view a 2024 mission as an attainable goal. His vision for what the country needed for its space program, and how his home state could lead the effort, has fueled national optimism for the next phase of space exploration.

There was a reason why Vice President Pence announced the administration’s plans for a lunar mission from the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, along with the countless aerospace providers in the area, have long served as the backbone of the nation’s space program, and Senator Shelby has consistently fought for their growth and well-being.

Senator Shelby recently explained to Yellowhammer News his views on why the relationship between America’s space program and Alabama works so well.

“Huntsville has always played a critical role in the success of our nation’s space program,” he said. “The innovation and research taking place in North Alabama, and at Marshall specifically, have created economic benefits for our entire state and encouraged young professionals to enter STEM fields. Further, these efforts will soon take humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars.”

Senator Shelby’s support of Marshall Space Flight Center becomes even more critical in light of its economic impact on the Yellowhammer State. Marshall supports more than 28,000 jobs in Alabama with a $4.5 billion economic impact.

An example of Senator Shelby’s persistent focus on pursuing the best outcomes for the nation — and Alabama — popped up in a senate hearing last month. It was there that he gained a public commitment from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine that the agency would utilize the Space Launch System (SLS) for the lunar mission, as well as other long-range space missions.

SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and the only rocket capable of carrying the Orion aircraft, astronauts and supplies to the moon in one launch. Its design and development is overseen entirely from Marshall Space Flight Center with its own significant value to the state’s economy. The SLS program supports more than 15,000 jobs in Alabama with a $2.1 billion economic output.

So in a fitting response to Bridenstine’s commitment, Senator Shelby declared, “What’s important is to build that rocket and build it right.”

The importance of the state to human spaceflight is widely-acknowledged.

Rick Navarro, director of launch operations for Boeing, stood in front of a rocket in Decatur last month and remarked on the area’s effect on our history in space.

“The entire area has actually contributed to human spaceflight,” he explained. “You cannot tell the story of human space flight without telling the story of northern Alabama. Of Decatur. Of Huntsville.”

And Senator Shelby is the driving force behind the renaissance of America’s space program.

Furthermore, the experts who have devoted their lives to space exploration have a keen understanding of his role.

When Yellowhammer News asked United Launch Alliance president and CEO Tory Bruno about Senator Shelby in an interview in March, Bruno’s eyes widened and a broad smile overtook his face as he responded.

“Anyone who has the voice that Senator Shelby has is great to have in a place, where he really appreciates your team and what you do for the country,” he stated emphatically. “He has been to our factory many times; he understands what we do; he understands the reliability that we bring to the critical missions that we perform for the country.”

Even through a humble, understated response to an inquiry from Yellowhammer News, one can sense a certain level of satisfaction with the immeasurable contribution Senator Shelby has made to the history of America’s space program.

“I am proud of the remarkable work taking place within the space industry in Alabama and look forward to continuing on this strong path of success,” he concluded.

Tim Howe is an owner and editor of Yellowhammer News

Jackson and Burke are joined by Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) to discuss the Mueller statement and the controversy over disaster funding.

Jackson closes the show with a “parting shot” calling for Alabama legislators to defend Alabama and take the fight to states that are targeting Alabama.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.

1. Twinkle for…?  Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, president of the Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC), fired off a tweet earlier today indicating that she will be on the ballot as part of the 2020 election cycle.

Running! #2020

— Twinkle Cavanaugh (@TwinkleforAL) May 31, 2019

What makes this tweet curious is the fact that she did not identify the office for which she was running. Cavanaugh defeated Democrat Lucy Baxley in 2012 to take over the presidency of the PSC. At the time, Baxley was the last-remaining Democrat to hold statewide office. Cavanaugh’s current term concludes in 2020, so it may be that she is seeking re-election to her seat on the PSC.

Like many other prominent Republicans in Alabama, though, Cavanaugh is known to have performed some amount of due diligence on what a candidacy for the U.S. Senate might look like. No female has announced for the seat currently held by Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL). The entrance of a well-known conservative woman — a description which fits Cavanaugh — into the race would completely change its complexion. One Republican political consultant told Yellowhammer News that if a strong, conservative female jumped in, then you could probably pencil that person into the run-off.

Cavanaugh has been a zealous advocate for conservative causes for many years. And as recently as 2018, she served as co-chair for the Alliance for a Pro-Life Alabama, which helped pass the state’s pro-life constitutional amendment.

Efforts to reach her at the time of publication were unsuccessful.

Cavanaugh’s Twitter handle is @TwinkleForAL. That much we know, at least.

2. “It’s easier to stay out than get out.” Mark Twain’s pearl of wisdom could easily describe the predominant political calculation of many considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Secretary of State John Merrill has said he is going to make a decision on the race this week or next. Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06) has not ruled it out, yet, and has told people he will make a final decision at the end of the summer — which would lend to the notion that he is not running.

We have learned that State Rep. Will Dismukes (R-Prattville) now fully intends to get into the race. We have reported previously that Dismukes was giving it strong consideration and had begun getting his feet wet campaigning in parts of the state outside of his district. In addition, he has spent time in Washington gauging potential support from interest groups and others in the nation’s capital.

As is the case with announced candidate State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs), beginning a high-profile statewide race from the relatively small footprint of a State House district presents a significant challenge.

3. Follow the money. Yellowhammer News alerted its readers earlier this week to the fact that the House of Representatives had drastically cut funding for rural broadband in its version of the budget. The budget passed by the House cut the program’s funding by 73%.

Senate leaders Del Marsh and Arthur Orr had long made ramping up rural broadband efforts a priority so it was no surprise to see them dig in and fight for that number to climb back up to an acceptable level during conference committee negotiations on the budget. When all was said and done, the conference committee adopted a 150% increase in funding over the House-passed version of the bill, increasing the broadband appropriation from $8 million to $20 million.

The timing of that funding increase was critical given the passage of certain legislation this session. Sen. Clay Scofield (R-Guntersville), widely-recognized as the father of the rural broadband initiative, passed a bill to strengthen the program even further. His was one of two bills aimed at fueling economic development and increasing quality of life through expanding internet access in rural areas.

• Just being gay doesn’t carry the status it used to for Democrats, so it appears the South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign may have been misrepresenting his husband’s family’s past for political gain, which Buttigieg’s brother-in-law says has led to death threats against him.
• Rhyan Glezman is Chasten Buttigieg’s older brother. The campaign has claimed that Chasten left his family home and was rejected by his brothers for coming out as gay. Rhyan is saying that while he doesn’t agree with his brother’s lifestyle, the campaign has misrepresented how Chasten is viewed and treated by the family.

5. A big win for AG Steve Marshall 

• On Thursday, the Alabama Senate passed a bill that would dramatically reform the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, and now the bill will go to the governor’s desk to be signed.
• The bill was spearheaded by Attorney General Steve Marshall and will require that anyone convicted of a violent Class A felony serve at least 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole. The changes came on the heels of some high-profile crimes by recently-paroled violent offenders.

4. Tuberville is using the right playbook for the GOP primary 

• While the national media is portraying attempts to change abortion law as giant electoral losers. former Auburn football coach and 2020 U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville has commented on the abortion ban in Alabama, saying, “I’m all for that, I’m pro-life.”
• Tuberville went on to note the purpose of the bill being to challenge Roe v. Wade, and then added, “Again, you’ve got to take your hat off to not just Alabama but other states in terms of trying to get this repealed back, in terms of making a different decision of what we have now.”

3. The Alabama legislature isn’t done yet 

• It looks like one more day of work for legislators in Montgomery with talk of a lottery returning seeming out of place. State Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) seems ready to close out the session with his remaking of the State School Board.
• At the end of each session, legislators nominate bills for the “Shroud Award” which is given to the deadest bill. This year’s winner was a “regulating the use of biosolid fertilizer composed of treated human sewage” and the runner-up was the lottery proposed by which, “Some people claimed it was a paper lottery because it folded so easily.”

2. Trump would place a tariff on illegal immigrants if he could

• Much to the chagrin of the media, stock market and his fellow Republicans, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to declare that he is putting in place a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico, saying “[U]ntil such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.”
• The tariff will start at 5% and increase “gradually until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.” If he follows through on this plan, it will be the most aggressive measure yet taken on this issue by a president who won an election by trumpeting stopping the influx of illegal immigrants across the southern border despite being stymied by Congress and the courts along the way.

1. Barr says Mueller chose not to do more

• According to Attorney General William Barr, special counsel Robert Mueller could’ve reached a decision about whether or not President Donald Trump obstructed justice during the Russia investigation. Calls from Democrats who want impeachment over this continue to grow.
• Barr further explained by saying, “The opinion says you cannot indict a president while he is in office. But he could’ve reached a decision whether it was criminal activity, but he had his reasons for not doing it, which he explained.”

• A bill meant to bring more high-tech jobs to Alabama and keep them here was passed by the Alabama Senate on Wednesday. It would give more rural cities the power to incentivize companies coming to Alabama as other states are targeting Alabama.
• Economic incentives as a method of recruitment have done wonders attracting multiple international companies and relocating American companies to the state; this would allow more communities to recruit for those incentives.

5. Some patients want medical marijuana

• As the Alabama House appeared to be stalled on medical marijuana legalization, many who are dealing with chronic health conditions urged the House Health Committee to approve the medical marijuana bill.
• Senate sponsor State Sen. Tim Melson (R-Florence) has made it clear that with the House not ready to move forward on his bill, he is prepared to move towards a study commission on medical marijuana with potential legalization possible down the road in the 2020 session.

4. Free speech on college campuses

• After an embarrassing display in the House last week where members of the Alabama Democratic Party declared that they were for using government power to silence their opponents, the Alabama Senate Education Policy Committee advanced the bill that would allow more free speech on college campuses.
• The bill would require Alabama’s public colleges and universities to actually protect the First Amendment free speech rights for students and faculty, eliminate free speech zones, stop mobs from silencing voices they disapprove of and provide a course for legal action for violations by public higher education institutions under the legislation.

3. Doug Jones can’t stop smiling

• Whoever is running Roy Moore’s Twitter account responded to criticism by President Donald Trump and others by nonsensically saying, “Ever wonder why the mere mention of my name scares the ‘hell’ out of the Washington DC establishment, liberals, and LGBT? Like Pres Trump I want to see America great again, but this is a job only God can do!”
• The potential Roy Moore candidacy for 2020 scares Republicans because he is an awful candidate. So far, Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01, the NRSC, President Donald Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. have all made it clear that they don’t think Moore can beat U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL).

2. Louisiana joins anti-abortion melee

• The latest state to jump in on pro-life legislation is Louisiana. The state legislature passed a  “heartbeat” bill, which would require women to get an ultrasound before they could have an abortion, and if there’s a fetal heartbeat then they wouldn’t be allowed to follow through with the procedure. This law only goes into effect if a similar Mississippi law is upheld.
• Governor John Bel Edwards (D-LA) is expected to sign the bill into law. The Democrat being involved in this measure all but ensures the criticism of the bill will be muted because it shows there are pro-life Democrats across America who aren’t enthralled with the left’s lurch towards abortion fanaticism.

1. Impeach, impeach, impeach!

• More and more Democrats are putting the pressure on to impeach President Trump after special counsel Robert Mueller’s statement that recapped his findings in the Russia investigation revealed nothing new. He emphasized that his report didn’t exonerate the president even though that wasn’t his job and it’s not what prosecutors do.
• After Mueller’s statement, the media continued to get the story wrong and say that the president would have been charged had there not been a DOJ guideline. This led to the DOJ and Mueller’s team to issue a statement saying, “The Attorney General has previously stated that the Special Counsel repeatedly affirmed that he was not saying that, but for the OLC opinion, he would have found the President obstructed justice. The Special Counsel’s report and his statement today made clear that the office concluded it would not reach a determination — one way or the other — about whether the President committed a crime. There is no conflict between these statements.”

• If the abortion ban goes into effect in Georgia, Netflix is planning on re-evaluating their “entire investment” in the state. But for now, they will “continue to film there, while also supporting partners and artists who choose not.”
• Netflix already has multiple productions in Georgia because of the state’s generous tax breaks for the film industry. A California state senator has proposed tax breaks for productions that leave pro-life states.

5. Misleading media coverage leads to threats for Alabama state senator

• State Sen. Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) was branded as “anti-women,” which that opened the flood gates of hate and nastiness. His 15-year-old son was harassed online and there have been rape threats directed towards his wife.
• Garlan was one of the many politicians mocked by “Saturday Night Live” because of his name, but the national and state media outlets erroneously named him as one “25 white men” who passed Alabama’s abortion ban.

4. No distracted driving in Bramblett accident

• Police already ruled out alcohol as a factor and have now ruled out distracted driving as the cause of the accident that killed “The Voice of Auburn” Rod Bramblett and his wife, Paula.
•  The crash occurred over the weekend in Auburn. Police indicate that an investigation is still ongoing, and will include “the examination of crash and vehicle data, accident reconstruction, toxicology, determination of speed and/or other contributing factors.” Afterward, the case will go to the “District Attorney’s Office for review.”

3. “[R]ide off into the sunset, Judge”

• According to Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), sources close to Roy Moore think he’s going to be launching a Senate campaign in June; now President Donald Trump and even Donald Trump, Jr. are calling for Moore to go away if he truly “cares about #MAGA.”
• Moore is fanning the flames as well by sending a series of tweets asking, “What is Bradley so worried about?” He also declared that Byrne “knows that if I run I will beat Doug Jones,” even though Jones beat him in 2017.

2. Alabama Democrats can’t shake the national party

• The National Republican Senatorial Committee has a new online ad out claiming that U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is “radical and out-of-touch” and ties him to the more extreme voices in his party.
• The ad declares that Jones’ promise to support the Democratic Party nominee for president puts him in line with many liberal figures including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and John Rogers, who is the only Alabamian he is linked to.

1. Investigate the Investigators Act

• The calls for a look into the origins of the Russia investigation are being echoed by Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) who has introduced a bill that would call for a probe into the Russian investigation.
• While calls for impeachment continue to grow, some are even arguing for a resignation. Byrne has said that all the Russia investigation produced was “ a big, fat goose egg,” and there is no case for President Trump’s impeachment.

• Headlines and pundits declared that Vice President Mike Pence was implying the United States was headed towards war in the Middle East as he spoke to graduates at West Point, even though that is hardly what he was saying.
• Pence told the graduates, “Some of you will join the fight against radical Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq” and it “is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life,” which is a pretty safe bet when speaking to career officers as they graduate from a military academy.

5. Bernie Sanders tries to weaken Joe Biden

• U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) continued to hammer away on Joe Biden’s track record, hitting him on his support for the Iraq War while warning that military confrontation between the United States and Iran would be more disastrous than the Iraq war and unconstitutional.
• Polls have already indicated that Biden’s support for the war was a liability with younger voters in the Democratic Party primary, but his position is well known and he is still far and away the leader of the field even though Sanders is tied with Biden in Iowa.

4. Busy week for the legislature

• With an abortion ban and failed lottery behind the legislature, attention turns to education as the Alabama legislature prepares to eliminate the state school board, replacing it with the appointed Alabama Commission on Elementary and Secondary Education and replace the superintendent with a cabinet-level appointment.
• Also expected to attract attention is the debate over medical marijuana. The chances of the bill being a pure legalization vehicle have morphed into a measure that would allow medical marijuana to be studied; a commission will then propose future laws.

3. An abortion “dystopia”

• The fear of restrictive abortion laws, like Alabama’s, has led to people in other states to offer up their homes as places people can stay if they need to get an abortion. Some 2,000 women have joined a Facebook page dedicated to the cause.
• Many of the laws passed have been challenged, some have “stayed” and none of them have actually become law yet, but that won’t stop the histrionics and it won’t stop new battles over the issue either.

2. Auburn loses its voice

• On Saturday night, Rod Bramblett, the “Voice of the Auburn Tigers,” and his wife Paula passed away in a fatal car accident, leaving behind their daughter Shelby and son Joshua.
• A GoFundMe page was set up to help the Bramblett children move forward with life’s expenses as Shelby is a sophomore at Auburn University and Joshua is a 10^th grader at Auburn High School. Some are donating $109 to pay homage to Bramblett’s Kick Six call and one donated $5,000.

1. Impeachment is coming

• According to Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) the House of Representatives is close to gaining the support that would be needed to bring impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
• Even if House Democrats can cobble together enough support to start impeachment proceedings, it is very clear that these go nowhere in the Senate with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) saying, “If it’s based on the Mueller report, or anything like that, it would be quickly disposed of.”